Differential or bearings? My turn in the Barrell!!!

[wynndi]

After a long afternoon of stop and go traffic mixed with the occasional 80 mph sprint, a LOUD noise erupted from the rear of my '96.

A little history before I begin. *I don't know the history of this 124K '96, but she is in great shape and hasn't given me any real problems since I bought her in April.

There has always been some rear end noise, but I chalked that up to tire noise ( Toyo Proxes ) that increased with speed but wasn't really remarkable.

Tonight's noise began soon after a spirited cornering onto the New Jersey turnpike from the Garden state Parkway. It was a 15 mph turn taken at 35+. Not smart, but not too outrageous either.

The noise started to overcome the CD (Tool, if you were wondering) I was playing and sounded like a loud gyro, a whirring as if a gear was spinning at a high RPM. Noise did not change with varying road surface, or with transmission in neutral (tried that later at a lower speed). Noise became alarmingly loud and I slowed down and pulled over to get a visual. Felt ok about driving home the final 20+ miles in the slow lane at 60 mph +/-.

At very low speed (less than 10 mph) there is no telltale bearing grind, or any noise at all. Over 15~20, the noise begins and picks up resonance with speed increase. Still sounding like a whirring gyro, but LOUD.

Transmission shifts were flawless as they have always been, though I am sure the stop and go had things pretty hot!

When I stopped, I touched the wheels, the rotors and finally the rear differential. All were hot to the touch (understandable after 5 hrs of Philly~North Jersey and back traffic.)

No visible fluid loss, though I will have to wait 'till the morning to check the rear diff fluid.

I need a few learned opinions before I start putting a Subaru Tech's kids through College!

Any recommendations for service in the Philadelphia~Cherry Hill area? She's DEFINITLY off the road until I get this figured out.